to refuse to allow DS2 (15) to go to the V Festival weekend, with one friend?

[WendyWeber]

He wants to see Travis. We've said they can go for the day, but he only wants to go to the whole thing so we have dug in, and said no.

15 is too young, isn't it? His older sisters are going, and if he is there they will feel they have to be responsible and look out for him, and that's not fair (and they never went anywhere at 15 )

Travis aren't doing many concerts any more but the DDs said they'd only be on for 2 or 3 songs and he'd be better waiting for a proper gig...

My mum let me go to Monsters of Rock at 15 (she'd refused the year before when I was 14 and a boy was asking me to go with him ) but it was only a day festival then. I don't think a day is unreasonable, like you say. But also as the girls say, better to go camping with stewards and 1st aid etc, than for him to ask to go somewhere random in the countryside, where there are no grown adults to help out if any problems.

Your right sleepycat, went to Leeds in 2001 and was hideous, hid in the tent on the last night as people had set the portaloos on fire and explosions everywhere. Have never felt so claustrophobic in an open space in all my life.

But V was fine I might add went in 2004, was a bit boring but in no way menacing lol

Gawd, is Leeds really like that???? Thank god he doesn't want to go there then

SM, when someone sends you a CAT it emerges as an email from MN at your registered email address; this may not be until tomorrow, it depends if anyone is in at MN Towers .

I think it would be unfair on his siters. But if they are ok with it then let him go.

sorry - ... read more... you are letting him go ?

Well, DD2 was not pleased when I first told her, but she read the thread - pronounced you lot a load of hippies - and calmed down.

Tickets booked now - thanks all for brilliant hippie advice (LordV, she thinks you are very funny )

YANBU 15-year-olds should not be listening to Travis.

I haven't read the full thread but V is a pretty friendly festival, in comparison to some of the others. Why not go with him. I'm going, I can't wait.

Oh WW - thanks for linking to this. Yes we can chew our nails together. I'm deffo worried about ds2 finding his tent. He can't find his underpants most days.

HE's going with several friends and now I'm worried about seeker's brain extrapolation. They'll be on a minus I think.

Is he going to Weston WW?

Yes, it's Weston, Smbk - his sisters are still a bit miffed about it, as they will feel responsible even though we've stressed that they aren't; also they will have to see him in, as under-16s have to be with an adult.

This will be DD1's 3rd year, she says finding your tent is relatively easy, as they are in marked sections and there is usually some sort of landmark tent near yours - people put all sorts of flags up. But then she is a) a girl b) over 21 c) generally capable of finding her own underpants

seeker's brain extrapolation sounded exactly right to me too - when DS2 has 1 friend round it's quite civilised but when there are 2 or 3 or 4 things start to go thud (eg football in the front room )

OTOH you're not that far away, are you? So you could pop over and find his tent for him every night, sort his clothes out every morning, make him a nice cup of tea

DD, I like sitting down in comfortable chairs far too much to go with him!

Message withdrawn

Let him go. He will be fine. And even if they do lose stuff from their tent, they will survive, and have a great story for their mates.

DD's been staying overnight at Reading since she was 15, the first year she was in a tent with her 17 year old brother & a couple of his friends, since then she's been with various combinations of friends, with DS & friends there but in different tents. But we live only 6 miles from Reading, so they both tend to come home for showers/raid the larder etc.
She takes a very old mobile phone, not her current one so she can ring if necessary.
One year she'd only got a ticket for the Saturday, but managed to get one for the Sunday at the last minute & ended up sleeping in a friends tent, wrapped in two coats. Last year her sleeping bag was nicked, but it didn't seem to spoil her enjoyment.

If you're worried about your DS not being able to find his tent, he could get a paintable tent - this was DS's a couple of years ago - and paint something that can be easily spotted.

Oh, and tell him not to pitch it near the toilets.....

at 'popping' over - not too far as the crow flys but we got stuck in the traffic coming back from hols last year and it was blimmin awful.

Will mention the loo thing - I imagine they're pretty unpleasant. He'd be unlikely to notice though, bless him.

Fab tent RustyBear!

Ooooh, paintable tent is brill, RB And taking an old phone is a great idea, we'll do that - will also send our oldest sleeping bags. If I can just convince him to keep his phone in one front pocket & his money in the other at all times, and not to take anything nice, that should cover all the bases.

CodofCodHall (is that cod or an impostor?), do keep up, I bought his ticket yesterday!

My dh used to be a builder (now a full time uni student) and he solved the "where to put the mobile phone" problem, by attaching it to a lanyard around his neck. It seems this is what the super hip guys do anyway, so no nerd factor in it. You can buy a lanyard at any of the mobile phone accessory stores.
By the way, I went to virgin festival when majorly pregnant with both my kids and it really is very tame.

He will have the choice of taking (possibly losing) money to buy food or taking a small camping stove and heating up his own. The 'breakfast in a can' was my V festival staple, although I did cook the full english from scratch for 8 one year just to prove that it could be done!

Whilst the Hari Krishna's do give out free food, all those lentils and brown rice may not be such a good idea as it will entail trips to more than just the urinals. The best thing to do is keep an eye out for the 'Noo Noo' truck on its cleaning run of the loos and use them just after they've been cleaned. Oh, they also usually have loos in the car parks that don't get so much use, but he should always travel with his own loo roll and wet wipes

So I have a list of things for ds to practice before August.

Putting up tent, and finding it later
Lighting camping stove (without setting fire to/blowing up neighbours)
Keeping money and phone safe (pigs & fly come to mind)
Warming up contents of tin
Boiling water for pot noodle
Drinking within limits (practicing this already with little success)

Oh hum!

(Good tip about the NooNoo truck though )